Chasing Starlight
by War Maiden
Summary: Commander Phaedra Shepard is building a small army with the dossiers that the Illusive Man give her. However, with the threat of death hanging over her shoulder, she's got quiet reservations that it's just not enough. When the Illusive Man sends her back to Aeia to check out a strange signal coming from the depths of the forest, Shepard finds hope in something new.


"Commander, the Illusive Man would like to speak to you."

"Of course he would," Shepard muttered to herself, pausing once in front of Mordin's lab before the door slid out of her way and let her through. She was on her very last nerve with the head of Cerberus and was certain he knew it. In fact, she had a feeling he had begun to…play with her. The thought had her angered beyond belief, but since she had no facts to back up this hunch, she kept her peace. Clenching her hands into fists, she stalked into the debriefing room and smacked the button that would establish a link.

She shifted impatiently as she waited to be patched through, her mind on her bed…and the stack of data pads beside it. She had too much work to be doing, and the Illusive Man surely wanted to pile on even more. It was one thing to be doing active work that directly influenced their battle against the Collectors – and ultimately the Reapers – and another thing entirely to take out Cerberus's trash. Part of her was glad that the Illusive Man had brought her back to deal with this threat against humanity.

Most of her was just bitter.

She unconsciously straightened as he flickered into view, her hands clasping together behind her as her gaze hardened. "What do you want this time?"

His lips pulled up into some semblance of a smirk, and he took a quiet second to puff on his cigar. "Testy."

Her eyebrow cocked, stance loosening and arms crossing over her chest. "You haven't seen testy," she grumbled.

He mumbled something back in reply, something she didn't quite catch, before speaking louder. "A small team of Cerberus operatives have begun an exploration on Aeia."

"The place we just left?"

"Yes. The team searched the Hugo Gernsback for any useful technology."

"And? Did they find anything?"

The Illusive Man put his cigar to his mouth, taking his sweet time in answering her. If she had any inclination that he enjoyed to see her fidget, she would find him and shoot him. "No."

"There's gotta be a _but_ to this situation." Her stare spoke leagues about how far she had already sunk into impatience.

"But," he agreed, "They did find something much more interesting." Reaching out with his free hand, he tapped on something invisible to her, and a large rendition of the planet appeared before them. "Not too far away from Jacob's father's…er, camp, we found a radio broadcast that was much weaker than the beacon signal. It was not a distress call – from what we could best decipher, it was a call of interest. A greeting, if you will."

Shepard cocked her head to the side as a spot on the planet began to blink, signifying the location of the signal. "Are you telling me there's someone else there?"

"Yes. Who or what is uncertain. The team answered the signal, but thus far there has been no reply."

"The team is checking in with you regularly? What if this is a trap?"

"They're still alive, and perfectly fine. I've ordered them not to wander farther into the forest. I don't know what's out there, but I'm curious."

"You need more firepower in case something happens."

He only nodded in reply, and she was given the chance to wonder how the fuck he had enough balls to ask her to help with this. The signal was probably either left over from one of the survivors from the crash, or it was a trap set for anyone stupid enough to believe it. It was silly. It was out of the way.

…Fuck it all if she wasn't interested.

"Why can't you get some of your goons to back up the goons you've already got there?"

"Because I want _you_ there, Shepard. This could be…something big."

Suddenly, harsh suspicion overrode her senses. "You know something more than you're letting on," she accused, her voice low.

"Maybe, but I'm going to keep my suspicions to myself until you complete the mission." Seeing that her lips were parting to surely spew more anger concerning her team's health and his _surprises_, he quickly added on, "I assure you, Commander Shepard, this isn't like the derelict Reaper."

"And how the fu—how am I supposed to hold you to that?"

"Go find out for yourself."

* * *

"What've we got?" Shepard asked as she gripped the metal doorway of the shuttle, watching the pilot do his job.

"There are four Cerberus members waiting in the landing area, ma'am."

"Should land on them," she mused.

A sharp laugh echoed from somewhere behind her. "Maybe wait until _after_ they piss you off in some form or another?"

Shepard's face lit up with the prospect, and she whirled to face her two chosen team members. "You think I could fly the shuttle if they did?" she asked, a note of excitement in her tone.

Garrus closed his eyes for a second, shaking his head. "…No. No, you couldn't."

"Yes I could!"

"Shepard, you can't _fly_. You'd miss the operatives and kill _us_."

"Goddammit, Garrus."

"Ahem, Commander. Haven't we got something more important to be worrying about than your flight skills – or lack thereof?" Miranda's voice had slowly lessened from the cold and formal tone she had used when Shepard had first met her, but that didn't lessen her adherence to duty.

Not that Phaedra Shepard would _ever_ trail away from duty.

Might skirt around orders once in a while, though. She couldn't deny that.

* * *

**Hi guys! :3 I haven't written fanfiction in a long time, so I'd absolutely love it if I could get some feedback on this stuff. Reviews are like candy and I'll eat them all. 8D I've got some pretty awesome plans for this story that I hope everyone will like, hehehehe. Also, the inspiration for this story is from the song "Starlight" by Muse. Go check it out! 8D**


End file.
